PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF RANDOMLY DISTRIBUTED FIBRE REINFORCED SUBGR ADE FOR PAVEMENT

Abstract

In order to utilise the natural coir fibre (which is abundantly available in coastal India, as an inexpensive material), in foundation beds, a research program has been taken up. Natural fibres such as coir and jute are emerging as an alternative to polymeric synthetic fibres for application in temporary or in non-critical structures, where a shorter life span may be adequate. In general coir absorbs significant amount of moisture, almost equivalent to its own weight, which has beneficial stabilising effect. In the context of sustainable development, these environmental friendly materials can be used in developing countries like India since they are abundantly available in processed form and are generally very low in cost compared to their synthetic counterpart. The escalating cost of materials and the lack of resources available have motivated geotechnical and highway engineers to explore new alternatives in preparing roads and rehabilitating the existing ones. Reinforcement of subgrade for flexible pavement in rural area is one of such alternatives. Recently, a considerable interest have been generated among both highway engineers and manufacturers for using randomly distributed fibre, as reinforcing materials for subgrade. Coir fibre being inexpensive in India, its potential use for rural road building on soft soil, is promising. In this context an attempt has been made, to investigate the suitability of locally available coir (a waste material from coir industry) as reinforcement for subgrade soil of flexible pavement in rural area. In this work 0%, 0.5%, 0.75%, 1%, 1.5% and 2% coir fibre by weight has been adopted for the purpose of soil reinforcement alongwith synthetic fiber of same various percentages, for comparison in improvement in characteristics of subgrade soil.